


A Lovely Man

by AsexualArchivist



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Blood, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, i want CONFESSIONS AND I WANT EM NOW, its not really graphic but like it’s about Caleb getting injured, poorly timed confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 02:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15209294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsexualArchivist/pseuds/AsexualArchivist
Summary: Caleb gets injured, and Molly can’t keep his feelings for him a secret any longer





	A Lovely Man

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this to fill the crit role void in my life rn lol  
> This is self indulgent as shit!!! Hope some of y’all like it!! <3

Molly hadn’t wanted to split up. Of course, he always relished a little one on one time with his favorite wizard, but he was worried. He always worried about Caleb. He was powerful, sure, but he couldn’t take a hit, not like Molly could.

And it didn’t take much, usually, to bring Caleb down.

Molly didn’t see the blow that did it. He didn’t even see the wound until after they had stumbled back to the meeting place they had all agreed upon, breathless and sore from the fight with the undead who were guarding this place. Molly slid to the ground up against the wall; they were the first ones here.

“Well, that didn’t take long,” he said, letting himself laugh a little despite the aches and bruises. “Let’s just... nap, while we wait for Jester to get back. What do you say, hmm? Cuddle pile?”

Caleb started giggling. Molly usually loved his laugh, would do anything to hear it, but this was wrong. It stuck in his throat, coming out in a choked stutter. Like he was suffocating.

“Caleb?!” Molly ran to him, grabbed his arm. Stared in horror at the blood on Caleb’s clothes. Caleb’s face was locked in a smile that was bordering on a grimace.

“Mr. Mollymauk,” he crooned, before he crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut. Molly caught him, lowered him to the ground as gently as he was able to. Caleb was sweating, smile still plastered on his face. Wrong. So wrong.

“I am just,” Caleb started, gasping for breath, “I- I need a minute, I think. To sit down. Breathe.” The last word sounded like a reminder to himself.

Molly nodded, ignoring the tears that were pricking behind his eyes. “Of course, darling. Just, let me see-“

He pulled back Caleb’s shirt to get a better look at the wound, ignoring the tightness in his chest that only got tighter when he got a good look at it. Molly wasn’t an expert on anything medical, but he’d seen his fair share of injuries (most on himself, if he were being honest). But the amount of blood that Caleb had already lost combined with the steady oozing of the deep red gash did not paint a pretty picture in Molly’s mind. In fact, Molly wasn’t sure if he had ever seen so much blood in his life. His hands shook, almost imperceptibly.!Quickly, he pulled off his coat and without thinking pressed it into the wound. 

Caleb’s scream of pain was the worst sound Molly had ever heard. He muttered soothing words to him under his breath.

“I know, I know, darling. Caleb, I know it hurts. I have to, sweetheart. Jester will be here soon, alright?”

He stroked his ginger hair, paying no mind to the grease and grime mixed with the sweat now standing out on Caleb’s brow. Caleb tried to choke out another laugh, but it got stuck in his throat.

“You- you look, so-“ he stuttered, struggling to find enough air to get the words out, “Mollymauk.” He put his hand up to Molly’s face. Molly didn’t mind the blood. “You are- so beautiful. Always.”

Molly tried to ignore the tears tracking down his face. “So are you. Even with all that blood smeared all over you.”

Caleb managed to get the laugh out this time. “You- you would not, lie, to a- a dying man, Mr. Mollymauk.”

“Okay. A couple of things.” Molly was openly crying now, but he didn’t care. “One. I would not lie to you, not about this. You’re a beautiful man, Caleb Widogast. And two. You’re not dying. Not here. I won’t let you.”

Caleb smiled. There was blood in his teeth. “ _Ja_ , okay, Mollymauk.” Disbelieving. Humoring him. Molly laughed a little, despite the tears. Caleb was humoring _him_? When he was the one bleeding out right in front of him?

“You are the most beautiful man I have ever met, Mr. Caleb,” Molly continued, staring straight into his eyes. It was so important that he know this, so important that he know it _right now_. “I- Moonweaver, this is the worst time I could have picked, but- Caleb.”

Caleb gazed back at him with half-closed eyes. “ _Ja?_ he said in that soft, gentle voice of his. And Molly was more sure than ever.

“I think I might just love you, Caleb Widogast.”

Caleb blinked, then blinked again. And again. “Oh,” he said. “I do not think... you- you know me well enough to say that. You- you shouldn’t-“

Molly hushed him. “Caleb, I’ve made my choice. I’m- I’m sorry, this was a bad time, but. I needed you to know. And I’m not sorry for feeling the way I do.”

Caleb didn’t say anything else. He just looked through Molly as if he was not there. Then he glanced down at his stomach.

“Your coat.”

Molly looked down as well, following Caleb’s eyes. “Oh, don’t worry about it. You think this is the first time I’ve gotten a little blood on it? It’s red, you won’t even notice the bloodstains.” Molly started babbling whatever came to his mind, afraid that if he stopped talking that he would have to deal with the fact that Jester wasn’t here yet and Caleb was still bleeding, growing paler and paler with every passing second. “Besides, your clothes are much worse off, but honestly they weren’t much better before. I need to take you shopping when this is all over, get you some nice new clothes. I suppose you can keep your coat but the rest has got to go. I’m sure Jester would love to help you pick out an outfit-“

“Mollymauk.”

“Yes?” He asked, desperately searching Caleb’s face for some sort of sign, anything that might suggest that he was going to make it through this. Caleb’s eyes were unfocused, staring forward. He looked peaceful. Serene. So unlike his usual anxious self.

“It is okay.” He was smiling faintly. It still looked wrong on his face. “I am- I am glad, that it was you. In the end.”

“Caleb-“

“And-“ he wheezed, struggling for air, “I think- I think I might- feel the same way. About you.”

Molly let his tears fall without bothering to wipe them away. “You better not die on me, Caleb Widogast.”

Caleb was still smiling that distant, terrifying smile. “I- I do not... want to die, Mollymauk... but, I’m a- I’m afraid that I might not... have... a choice.” He coughed, red appearing at the edges of his lips. “I am- I am not... a brave man.”

“You’re the bravest man I know,” said Molly quietly. “And the smartest. And the loveliest.” He patted Caleb absently on the head, smoothing his dirty hair away from his eyes. They looked up at him, crystalline blue.

“ _Du bist schöne,_ ” said Caleb, almost too soft for Molly to hear. Molly didn’t have any time to ask what that meant before Caleb went limp in his grasp, the clear blue eyes vanishing beneath his eyelids.

“Caleb!” He shook him, but Caleb did not stir. Molly felt for a pulse and found one, thready, barely there. His hands were shaking noticeably now; he was barely holding it together. He pressed harder on the wound in Caleb’s stomach, terrified at the lack of physical response to the pain. 

He didn’t know how long he stayed that way, desperately pressing his coat into Caleb’s bloody gash. Molly wasn’t really all there. His mind was off floating somewhere, detached from the body that was sticky with Caleb’s blood. But he abruptly found himself in his body again as footsteps thumped towards him. Jester grinned and waved.

“Molly! Caleb! I didn’t think you would get done first, did you find any-“

She stopped when she saw the blood on Molly’s hands. Jester ran forward, and this close Molly could see a few cuts across her face. She looked pale and tired. It must have been hard on her and Yasha’s end, too. She laid her hands on Caleb and muttered to the Traveler. His breathing evened out, and some color returned to his face, but he didn’t wake up. Molly slumped over, exhausted.

“Let’s... let’s sleep here, tonight,” Jester ventured, earning tired nods from both Beau and Molly.

Fjord, Yasha, and Nott were back a few minutes later. Nott was understandably upset that Caleb had been hurt, but Jester reassured her with a few quick words. They all made a tacit agreement not to tell her how bad it had been.

It was getting late, Molly thought; it was hard to tell this deep inside a dungeon, and Caleb with his usually perfect sense of time was currently unconscious. But he was so tired it felt like his very bones were aching. He laid down on his bedroll, barely taking the time to unfurl it completely, and closed his eyes. Molly was vaguely away of the others around him doing the same, with someone, probably Jester, tucking Caleb up to his chin in a blanket.

Molly lay there for the better part of an hour, but no sleep came. He tossed and turned until he finally sat up and glanced around. Fjord and Beau were taking watch, talking in low voices. A few feet away from him was Caleb, with Nott curled around him like usual. Molly quietly stood up, shifting his bedroll until it was right next to Caleb’s. Grabbing his hand, Molly felt for a pulse. It was there; steady, strong, alive. He sighed in relief and laid back down on his bedroll, right beside Caleb, just close enough to hear him breathing.

Molly slept easier after that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! I may do a follow up chapter to this cuz I have a couple ideas!!  
> Oh! And Caleb says in Zemnian “you are beautiful”. Lemme know if I got the German wrong I just used google translate (I don’t know ANY GERMAN)  
> (EDIT: Thanks for telling me that it was in fact "you are beautiful" and NOT "you are a beautiful man" :D I'm just going to leave it though because ya know the same point gets across)  
> Comments and kudos always appreciated <3


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